The Financial Times reports how Air Italy, a relatively small Italian airline has become the latest source of tension in the increasingly frayed relationship between the EU and the Trump administration, after officials in Brussels warned Washington not to stop Air Italy flying in and out of the US.
Large US airlines have been lobbying the US government to prevent the Italian carrier flying what they see as unfairly-subsidised routes, which they say are being underwritten by Air Italy’s Qatari owners and undercut their own services.
The European Commission has written to the US state department warning that any action against Air Italy would constitute a violation of the US-EU Air Transport Agreement.
In the letter, seen by the Financial Times, Henrik Hololei, the director-general for transport at the Commission, warned Manisha Singh, assistant secretary at the state department, that Europe would take “all necessary steps” to defend its rights.
Via Financial Times
